Tweeting as an Art Advocacy Tool

Why Tweet?

Twitter can be a great advocacy tool for you, your program and your school.

This past school year I started using my personal Twitter as my unofficial Art Program Twitter.  I found myself wanting to tell others about some of the great things going on in and outside of my classroom.

Why choose Twitter?  It is FAST, simple and you can add photos & videos.  This platform is an online social networking service.  Twitter lets users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets." Another added feature is that you can link articles, add hashtags and also link to other accounts.

The number of followers, likes and re-tweets does not matter to me.  This is what is important: I am getting student artwork, special projects, articles and advocacy for my program to the public.  This is not just the local community, this can be the world!

Here are some TIPS & TRICKS to Tweeting in the Art World:

• Always add photos
• Link to other people and articles
• When starting an account decide if you would like it personal or as a department.
• Use hashtags (a hashtag is word or phrase preceded by a hash or pound sign [#] and used to identify messages on a specific topic)
• Follow other teachers or principals that are using Twitter.  Hopefully they will follow you and share some of your tweets!
• Follow local media.  If they know you and that what you are doing is great, they will also re-tweet!

I am proud of my students and all of their hard work.  This is one simple way to share their amazing talents and advocate for my program.

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The article for today's blog post was written by Heather McCutcheon, 9-12 Art Teacher in Herkimer Central School in central NY state, where she also serves as Arts and Ed coordinator.  Heather is a fellow member of the NYSATA board of trustees, representing Region 3 as co-chair, and she is the new co-chair for Youth Art Month for NYS.  I'm glad she has offered to share this information about Twitter, since tweeting is something I've never done myself.  She has made it sound so easy!  Thanks, Heather!

* Thanks again, Heather, for making this sound so easy and useful! *  

Why an Art Advocacy Blog?

Hello world!  This is the first post of what I hope will be many regular posts, dealing with the topic of advocacy for the arts, and in particular, advocacy for art education.

So who am I, and why am I writing this blog?  Let me introduce myself to you!

My name is Phyl, and I'm a retired art educator living in northeastern New York State.  I retired four years ago after teaching art for 37 years in public schools, but, despite my retirement status, I have remained actively involved in art education.

I'm not new to the blogosphere - I've been blogging for several years at There's a Dragon in my Art Room.  On that blog, I have shared art lessons, my opinions about various topics of art education, and my own personal creative creative pursuits. 

Meanwhile, I recently began serving on an art education advocacy committee, and we've talked about how to share our advocacy tips and ideas with other art educators.  We are aware that art education isn't always valued the way we'd hope.  So to preserve and protect our programs, it is essential, as art educators, that we do everything we can to bring awareness to our communities of the positive benefits of  art education.   A blog seemed like the perfect way to share ideas beyond the framework of our little committee.  Since I already have blog experience, the logical next step was for me to create an art education advocacy blog.  So here I am!

Here's what you should expect to read/see, if you come back regularly to visit this blog:

• Quick tips/ideas for how to advocate for your art programs
• Discussion about WHY advocacy is important
• Posts with stories/anecdotes and images submitted by other art educators about something they've done that successfully advocated for their programs.
• Links to various resources and articles about art advocacy
• Interviews with various art educators about their advocacy successes

It will take a few posts to establish the "rhythm" of this blog, but I hope you'll stop by regularly and find information that will be very useful to you, and heighten your awareness of the importance of being an advocate.  Don't be surprised if the blog looks a little different next time you stop back; this is definitely a "work-in-progress"!